From the American Society for Investigative Pathology’s “Pathology as a Career in Medicine”

Pathology is the medical specialty that provides a scientific foundation for
medical practice. A pathologist functions in three broad areas: as an investigator,
as a teacher, and as a diagnostician.

Pathologists in hospital and clinical laboratories practice as consultant physicians,
developing and applying knowledge of tissue and laboratory analyses to assist
in the diagnosis and treatment of individual patients.

As teachers, they impart this knowledge of disease to their medical colleagues,
to trainees at all levels, and to medical students.

As scientists, they use the tools of laboratory science in clinical studies,
disease models, and other experimental systems, to advance the understanding
and treatment of disease.

Pathology has a special appeal to those who enjoy solving disease-related problems,
using technologies based upon fundamental sciences ranging from biophysics to
molecular genetics, and including tools from the more traditional disciplines
of anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, and microbiology.